RayVen Laser GmbH
Registergericht: Amtsgericht Bochum, HRB 22329
Geschäftsführer: Dr. Celia Millon, Dr. Michael Müller
Adress : Universitätstr. 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany
High-Performance Ultrafast Lasers
RayVen offers industrial-grade ultrafast lasers that operate exclusively at 2.1 µm (short wavelength infrared range, SWIR). Designed with femtosecond and picosecond pulse durations, these lasers deliver exceptional stability in a compact design, low-noise performance, and high peak power.
RayVen-S provides 1 W of average power at a 50-70 MHz repetition rate, with 120 fs pulse durations across wavelengths from 2090 nm to 2120 nm.
RayVen-L is tailored for high-energy tasks, delivering 10 W of average power and up to 1 mJ of pulse energy with 800 fs pulse duration.
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Interfaces on backside
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Laser aperture
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Dust-tight industrial design
Focus on applications for 2-micron ultrafast lasers:
Semiconductors
2.1 µm Ultrafast Lasers for Low-Bandgap Semiconductors
The low photon energy (0.59 eV) at 2 µm enables transmission through Si, Ge, GaAs, InAs, allowing beam focusing at any depth. High-intensity ultrashort pulses trigger nonlinear effects causing localized modifications (µm scale).
These defects can remain (for waveguides/stress modification) or be removed via ablation/etching.
Applications: photonic chips, cooling structures, vertical interconnects for chip stacking, and welding of semiconductors or dissimilar materials by focusing into interface planes – enabling glue-free device assembly.
Example: RayVen-L scribed a ~20 µm line on Si wafer, enabling clean breaking with fine cleaved edge.
Glasses
Most optical glasses, such as fused silica and borosilicate, are oxide-based and still transparent around 2 µm wavelength. This allows for the light of an ultrafast laser like RayVen-L to do machining on the surfaces and within the material, as shown in the example to the right. The low photon energy at 2.1 µm requires a multi-photon absorption to happen to bridge the bandgap of the materials. This results in a very precise 3-dimensional localization of the defect to be induced. Possible applications are the drilling of through vias, writing of waveguides, welding, and the generation of diffractive structures. Hollow structures can be fabricated by etching of the laser-modified material.
Polymers
Polymer Processing with 2.1 µm Lasers
Polymers (PC, PE, PMMA, silicones, cellulose) consist of long molecular chains. Intermolecular bonds cause strong absorption in the short-wave infrared via vibrational modes. RayVen laser radiation is absorbed immediately at the surface with minimal penetration, enabling micrometer-precise ablation (voxel sizes ~10×10×1 µm).
Applications: Microstructures for lab-on-chip devices in chemical, biological, or medical analyses.
Example: ~15 µm wide trench written on PMMA using RayVen-L.
Supercontinuum generation
Octave-Spanning Supercontinuum Generation for Frequency Combs
Optical frequency combs require precise carrier-envelope-offset frequency (fCEO) stabilization via octave-spanning spectra. Traditional broadening methods struggle with Tm/Ho-based lasers due to anomalous dispersion. Integrated waveguides offer a solution with low pulse energies and engineerable dispersion.
Octave Photonics and Ruhr University Bochum generated an ultra-broad spectrum (1.2–3.2 µm) using RayVen-S with Ta₂O₅ waveguides, enabling advances in mid-infrared lasers.
Figure (a): measurement scheme; (b): chip output spectrum.
RayVen brings 2 micron to industrial and scientific users
2 µm lasers open new pathways in material processing. For example, silicon – a fundamental material in the electronics industry – becomes transparent around 2 µm, enabling processing through the material and inside of it. Contrary, in polymers, the absorption peaks at around 2 µm allowing for efficient surface processing. Additionally, 2 µm lasers exhibit strong absorption in water, enabling precise medical procedures such as urology treatments and soft tissue surgery with small penetration depth. Further, the eye safety is higher compared to 1 µm laser because it is less likely to damage the retina.
Beyond industrial applications, 2 µm femtosecond lasers hold potential for scientific research. They allow spectroscopy of various chemical species and water. Additionally, they serve as drivers for nonlinear frequency conversion to EUV and THz.
RayVen builds solid-state lasers, here is why:
Solid-state lasers excel in producing high peak powers, high energy and high beam quality, crucial for ultrafast science and precision material processing.